Susanne Winter: Convicted in Austria of Speaklng Out

From the sharp pen of the Baron at Gates of Vienna (links in the original):

Its important to remember that Geert Wilders is not the first European politician to be prosecuted for telling the truth about Islam, nor will he be the last.

Last November I reported on the case of Susanne Winter, an Austrian politician and member of Parliament for the FPÖ, who was charged with incitement for public statements she made about Islam.

As a reminder, heres the description of her crimes:

In todays system the Prophet Muhammad would be considered a child molester, apparently referring to his marriage to a six-year-old child. She also said that it is time for Islam to be thrown back where it came from, behind the Mediterranean.

Yesterday Susanne Winter was convicted of the charges against her and given a three-month suspended sentence plus a substantial fine. The news in German may be found here, and a brief report in English is available at Earth Times:
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Vienna  Austrian far-right parliamentarian Susanne Winter was convicted Thursday of incitement because of her anti-Muslim statements, including the claim that Islams prophet Mohammed was a paedophile. A court in Winters home town of Graz also found the 51-year-old politician guilty of humiliating a religion. She was sentenced to a fine of 24,000 euros (31,000 dollars) euros and a suspended prison term of three months, Austrian news agency APA reported.

The politician, who took a seat in parliament last fall for the Freedom Party (FPOe), made the anti-Islamic remarks in January 2008.

She also proposed in a discussion with students that Muslim men should commit bestiality rather than making indecent advances on girls.

The politician had pleaded innocent Thursday, claiming that she did not want to insult anyone, but only to point out problems.

The verdict is not yet legally binding.

Winters son Michael, a former youth leader in the Freedom Party, was convicted of the same crime last October. He had suggested in a newsletter that Turkish Muslims were in the habit of committing bestiality.